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Is there anything I can do to help me conceive a boy?

I am hope I am not being unrealistic here, however I have two girls and my husband has always wanted a boy. Thus, I am wondering, is there any tips or anything that I can do to help me conceive a boy on my next time around.

Honestly, I think you probably have a 50/50 chance. However, at least for fun, there are certain things that people claim make conception of a boy more likely. For example, there are some that claim eating a diet heavy in protein and salt will make you more likely to conceive a boy. Studies have also shown that increased glucose may improve your odds of conceiving a boy. Lastly, Dr. Landrum Shettles who authored the book "How to Choose the Sex of your Dreams," believes that certain sexual positions may affect the outcome. It is a fact that the motility levels and lifespan vary when it comes to sperm. He could be on to something when he says deeper penetration and certain positions that allow it increase your odds of having a boy.

Like I said, I do not know if there really is anything you can absolutely do to ensure you have a boy, but I bet you can have a lot of fun trying!

There definitely are things you can do to sway the chances of having a girl or a boy. My husband was reluctant to have our first child, and I knew he wanted a girl. I figured that if we conceived a girl, he would be more apt to want more children, so I read up on it (the Shettle's book is very good) and applied some very basic but helpful things.

For a boy, you will want to abstain from sex during the first part of your fertile window. Then, when you know you're going to ovulate, that's the time for sex. Nowadays, we have ovulation predictor tests which can give you 12-48 hours notice that you're going to ovulate. If I were trying for a boy, I would not have sex during the first part of my fertile window, and as soon as I saw a positive test, I would make love that night, and again the next morning. That's pretty much all it would take, in good, fertile conditions, and your chances of a boy would be higher than that of a girl.

Little boy sperm (Y) are faster swimmers than little girl sperm (X). The girl sperm are heartier/stronger and though they are slower swimmers they will last longer than the girl sperm. The little boy sperm are faster swimmers but they die off sooner. So, for a boy, you want to make sure that there are no sperm waiting for the egg to be released (the reason for abstaining during the first part of your fertile window) and then you'll want to make love as close to ovulation as possible - or even right at ovulation. But remember, the egg only lives for 12-24 hours, so if you wait too long, you won't conceive at all.

As Mom2many mentioned, penetration can help as well. For a little girl, you'll want your husband to ejaculate during shallow penetration of his penis in your vagina. For a little boy, you will want him to ejaculate with deep penetration, depositing the sperm at the cervix. The pH of the vagina is more conducive to little girl sperm and can even give them a little "boost", whereas the pH of the area beyond the cervix makes the little boy sperm happier.

There are also certain foods you can eat or avoid, and douching that can be done. That's covered in more detail in the Shettle's book.

Wow! I really had no idea you could do things to sway the gender. I have two friends who have boys but are both really wanting girls. I'll be sure to mention the Shettles book to them. Since I think they are both pretty sure they will try for baby #3, they can at least they can give it a try. Great info as usual Kate!

This is a very interesting story. Let me share my story, I have 2 boys which the oldest was planned and wanted it to be a boy. The 2nd was unexpected but still it was a boy. What my husband and I did, we never had a contact before my ovulation and on that day when we did it, I elevated my pelvis by putting a pillow underneath and rested my legs up against the wall for about 30 minutes.

That must what have happened to me according to the posts of mom2many & 5Homebirths4Kate and I just gave some push to make it a boy by elevation of my pelvis.

Elevating the pelvis doesn't increase the chances of a boy, it just helps the semen to pool at the cervix and increase the amount of sperm that have an opportunity to swim to egg. A deep penetration at the time of ejaculation would cause the sperm to have the shortest contact with the vaginal area (which is a different pH from that of the area beyond the cervix).

Waiting to have intercourse until the day of ovulation DEFINITELY favors the little boy sperm and I'm not surprised that you conceived a boy. If I had had to guess what gender you were going to have, before birth, I'd have guessed "boy" given that piece of information.

This is really very interesting! My eldest is a girl and it would really be nice to have a boy for our second baby. Aside from ovulation predictor tests, are there other natural ways to predict/detect ovulation?

Yes there are natural ways to predict ovulation. Firstly, it's useful to know that most women (who have regular cycles of 28 days, with day 1 being the first day of their period) will ovulate on day 14. Sperm can survive in the body for around 3 days (some sources say up to 5 days). The NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidelines are that couples trying to conceive should have sex every other day in the cycle (excluding when you have your period!).

There are also changes in your body to look out for at the time when you are ovulating. The cervical mucus will change - around 5 days before you ovulate you may see a dryish clump of mucus. When the cervical mucus becomes stretchy and clear (this is often described to be like egg white) then you are at your most fertile. Kate (another member of this forum) explains about these changes in cervical mucus in more detail. The book 'Natural Fertility' by Francesca Naish also covers naturally detecting fertility in lots of detail, and it has been previously recommended on this forum.

Sending you good wishes with conceiving your next child. You may want to have a look at some of these helpful articles about What to Eat in Pregnancy. It is a good idea to start eating a healthy, balanced diet whilst you are trying to conceive as well as during pregnancy (and when breastfeeding). You could also consider eating organic food (if you don't already) as studies have shown these are higher in essential minerals than their non-organic equivalents. For example, organic apples have 73% more iron than non-organic apples.

Just remember that the most important thing to help in conceiving a boy will be to avoid intercourse starting when you see the first signs of fertility, which, as LJ mentioned, is when you see that first "clump" of mucus. This is when you change from feeling dry, to actually seeing something different in your cervical mucus consistency.

After that, the ovulation predictor tests can be very helpful in conceiving a boy, because it's at that point when you want to be making love in order to conceive a boy. If you can't afford those, then just watching your cervical mucus changes can be helpful, but if you can use an ovulation predictor test too, that will be best.

You'll also want to be sure that your husband has a deep penetration when he ejaculates so that he deposits the sperm right at your cervix.

Thank you very much for the pointers! I'll keep these in mind. We haven't really tried conceiving yet...maybe late this year. For the meantime, I'll try to observe my cervical mucus for every cycle. Just to get familiar with the changes that I need to watch out for.

Sounds great, Ana. Let me know if you have any difficulty determining your fertile window. If you're not seeing that change in your mucus, then we may want to work on balancing your hormones so you can conceive quickly when you're ready.